How 'Bout That Bath?
by Teh Vivid
Summary: Just a songfic Cutting Room Floor by As Good As New. Anyway, tell me what you think I forgot my author's notes. facepalm Sorry guys, I seem to do that a lot of late, even though I haven't updated in ever.


Rikku stood at the base of the Thunder Plains, her hands clasped behind her back, and she bounced on her feet; to most everyone she knew, they would believe it just one of her hyperactive tendencies and nothing more. How little some people knew. Sure, she may have camped out at the Thunder Plains for a week, and she had been able to go through them several times without flinching, but when Rikku actually took time to appreciate them, touches of fear would brush her skin and force shudders down her spine. How she detested Brother for striking her when she was so little and creating such a phobia- even if he had been helping! She could never quite appreciate the beauty and the almost demented majesty of the Thunder Plains.

Towers to attract electric shock seemed to jut up from the ground like terrible mutations, and the ground was always sopping wet due to the constant rainfall that had not forgotten to drench the normally peppy seventeen year old. Lightning forked across the sky, occasionally erupting from the ground and sending piles of Spira in all directions. A mad beauty, an untamed majesty. She sighed and took a step back; Rikku refused to let herself go further in alone. No, Rikku was never alone here, that man who worked on the towers was always there for aid, as was one of Rin's Agencies that would let her rest and loiter until it let up. Not that it ever did.

Rikku backed into a figure, and she spun around, ready to destroy another fiend.

**And if you don't understand life**

**I'd be happy to help you out**

**I can tell you when and what**

**What this is all about**

**Just gimme the cue cards**

**And you know that I**

**I will direct right down to the line**

**I can tell you when to cry (and smile at the same time)**

"Whoa, whoa," Said the figure, waving his arms and grinning goofily, "Watch what you're kicking." As if Rikku could ever mistake that almost white-blonde hair for anyone else's, and the eye patch; not to mention those terribly tacky clothes of his. Still, they looked good on him, not that she should have allowed herself to think that.

"Oh, hey, Gippal," Rikku said, lowering her arms and tucking her weaponry away. "What're you doing here?"

The man shrugged and, unabashed by the rain and mud, sat down with one knee turned outward, and the other bent so he could rest his arms on it; they sky caught his attention, and Rikku watched him stare up at the sky almost longingly. He seemed so immune to the raindrops impacting with his fact and sliding away, but when Rikku bent down to look at him, his attention snapped, immediately, to the seventeen year old. "You alright?" She asked a touch nervously.

"You looked like you were going to leave," Gippal mused, ignoring the question about his welfare. "Why?"

Rikku rolled her eyes, but she was smirking. "Please, you were there when Brother electrocuted me- you should know why I'm afraid."

Gippal smiled coyly, "Yeah, and I also remember a week when we camped out here to get over that little fear of yours." Rikku blushed furiously at what he hinted at; even if it was true- it was in the past. "So why won't you walk through?"

"Maybe I just don't want to," Rikku retorted, noting the way he avoided using her name- the insufferable eighteen year old hadn't called her Rikku since the end of their relationship a little more than a year ago. She stood up straight again and spun on her heel to face the rainy road ahead of her.

"Well, go on," Gippal said, tapping the backs of her knees with his foot; unfortunately, he managed to make her fall into the mud. Instead of being a gentleman, like Nooj, Gippal laughed outright.

Rikku wasn't as amused.

**If life was a movie**

**We'd keep all the best**

**We'd edit and erase and re-shoot the rest**

**Til we get it right for the scene**

**If we got awards for the way that we act**

**I'd win "the best way to never forget"**

**Just one night I made a scene.**

She pushed herself from the ground and shook her arms out, flinging loose globs of mud off her arms and attempting to brush it off her stomach. It didn't quite work, and her stomach was soon smeared with mud. "Ugh, gross," She muttered, attempting to fix the situation by rubbing it away with the backs of her hand; Rikku only succeeded in evening the mud out as if someone had painted it on her. Flecks of mud kissed her cheeks, and her hands were covered in mud, as were her legs.

The seventeen year old turned to Gippal, who was watching the whole scene with a rather amused expression. "Gippal!" Rikku shrieked angrily, kicking mud at him. "Look at me- I'm all gross and stuff, now," Her shrieking came to a sort of whine, and the Al Bhed girl hung her shoulders.

Gippal clicked his tongue at her and stood up with his arms crossed. He tilted his head to one side and looked at the frustrated girl that he'd once dated, "Would you like me to bathe you?" He asked cockily and watched Rikku darken considerably.

"That is so like you!" She told him loudly, trying her best to cover the blush on her face; Gippal chuckled and mussed her hair.

"Do you have an answer for me?" He asked her and watched almost gleefully as she darkened all over again at the concept.

"I think I'm alright," She told him, steadily; Gippal couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at the steadiness of her voice- when he'd first dated her, she'd stuttered over and over again at the concept of sex. Sure, the girl was definitely experienced in making out and whatnot, but Gippal was aware she was still a virgin.

He would never tell her how surprised he was of that just because of the way she dressed.

Gippal hung his head at her answer, but had an idea. "Water," He muttered, and watched a swirl of water engulf the girl for a second, then collapse at her feet; she shrieked.

"_Gippal_," She whined, hugging herself, "That was coold!"

Gippal rolled his eyes, glancing at her stomach and noting that, unfortunately, most of the mud had simply clung to her skin even more and washed down to her sad excuse for a skirt; all the way to her thighs. "And it didn't even work," She noted unnecessarily; Rikku shivered.

**So Cut. It. Out. I don't even like the way it sounds**

**Try it again but this time give it your all**

**(Show me what you're about)**

**I wanna see some emotion**

**Make me believe that it's not act**

**That you mean everything**

**Can you tell me a lie? (And smile at the same time?)**

The eighteen year old felt as though he'd planned it out since he'd stepped onto the Thunder Plains after Paine had tipped him off about Rikku's whereabouts. Honestly, Gippal hadn't thought the opportune moment would actually come, and he'd leave either without a Rikku to take home or with a Rikku after forcing his pride down his throat. He'd never even meant to make her fall, but it had woven perfectly into his nonexistent plans. The fear. The fall. The mud. The water. The cold.

Life was being good to him so far. Now, if Rikku would accept him, Gippal was pretty sure he'd be happy as he was when they'd first dated. Oh, yes, when he'd said _quite the couple_, he meant it. Of course, the relationship's end had been mutual since Gippal ended up owning the old Temple, and Rikku had gone off to explore the Spira- and dragged the poor High Summoner along. The relationship just wouldn't have worked out, but, now, there was nothing truly standing in their way- he'd just have to introduce the concept of a relationship to her again.

Rikku shivered and turned around, quite apparently determined to walk through the Thunder Plains, covered in mud and all. She may as well have had a sign with the word rape in vibrant pink letters hanging above her head- the girl was so naïve.

Ah, the opportune moment.

Gippal wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled his head into her hair. "Gippal, what are you doing?" Rikku asked, looking up at him so that their eyes were mere inches from one another's ( though one of Rikku's eyes met an eye patch ). He chuckled.

"What's it feel like?" Gippal asked her softly, and her eyes widened.

"Gippal…" She said softly, quite obviously searching his eyes as if to assure herself that it wasn't just some sick joke. He spun her to face him, and crushed his lips onto hers, and Rikku responded by kissing him back.

He moved his tongue to enter her mouth, but she refused him and broke their kiss, "You have to be so much more aggressive than that," Rikku reminded him with a playful smile.

"How silly of me," He told her before kissing her again; when she denied his entrance, he bit her lower lip. The metallic taste of blood greeted his mouth, but she complied with letting his tongue in her mouth- not that she was through fighting. Their tongues wrestled for dominance; Rikku slipped her hands into his hair, and he tightened his grip on her lower back.

**If life was a movie**

**We'd keep all the best**

**We'd edit and erase and re-shoot the rest**

**Til we get it right (Til we got it right) for the scene**

**If we got awards for the way that we act**

**I'd win "the best way to never forget"**

**Just one night I made a scene.**

They broke away in almost unison, and Rikku looked up at Gippal seriously. "You're… You're serious?" She asked him, unsure. "You really want to..?"

"Of course I do," Gippal reassured her, touching her cheek gently. Rikku smiled up at him and laid her head in the crook of his neck; he pulled her closer. After a moment, they withdrew from one another, and Gippal saw that the mud seemed as if it was going to bleach her skin.

"So," She began, taking a step toward him, "How 'bout that bath?"


End file.
